Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lying, according to Sacred Scripture

Isaac, deceived and blessing Jacob

The use of Scripture in the
recent debate about lying

In
the debate over the moral status of the Live Action sting operations against
Planned Parenthood, two examples of “ethical” lying regularly came up in
comment boxes and even in the bodies of articles. On the one hand, some
referred to the supposed acts of lying which Pope Pius XII employed in order to
save the Jews during War II – the historical veracity of this claim is open to
some question, for further reading we point to an article in favor
of the claim and an article against it [for our
part, we suspect that the story is more myth than history].

The
example proffered in favor of lying which we will be focusing on in this
article, however, is actually a conglomeration of numerous cases taken from
Sacred Scripture. Some have claimed not only that many of the holy men and
women of the Old Testament lied, but that God himself has lied! We will
consider, in particular: Abraham’s claim that Sarah was his sister; the testing
of Abraham (according to which some will be so bold as to accuse God of
deceiving Abraham with falsehood); the blessing of Jacob in place of Esau; the
deception of Pharaoh by the Egyptian midwives; and, from the New Testament, the
statement by our Savior that he did not know the day or the hour of his Second
Coming (of which some have most impiously claimed that Christ our God spoke a
lie in this matter, since he certainly did know the time of the Parousia).

In
our first little article, we will consider the broader question of the
interpretation of these difficult passages of Scripture. Then, in later
articles, we will discuss first the cases involving the Patriarchs, then that
involving the midwives, and finally those involving God himself.

How a Catholic reads the
Bible

The
Second Vatican Council has put forward three criteria for reading the Bible in
union with the same Spirit who inspired it: 1) Be especially attentive to the
content and unity of the whole Scripture. 2) Read the Scripture within the
living Tradition of the Church. 3) Be attentive to the analogy of faith. (Dei Verbum 12, CCC 112-114)

Thus,
whenever he comes upon a difficult Bible passage, the Catholic considers the
relation between the Old and New Testaments (since many obscure portions of the
Old Testament are made clear in the New, while the New Testament would be
incomprehensible without the Old), he then looks to the commentaries of the
great saints and theologians of the Church’s Tradition (giving special
pre-eminence to the Fathers of the Church and to the Magisterium), and finally
he considers the coherence of all the doctrines of the faith and seeks to read
the particular passage in light of the whole plan of Divine Revelation.

There
are many things which a Catholic ought never to do when interpreting difficult
passages of Scripture, we will point to some which are particularly relevant to
our current topic: The Catholic ought not to isolate a peculiar or
extraordinary passage of Scripture from the rest of the Bible or from the
Church’s Tradition; and, he ought not to interpret a passage without reference
to the commentaries of Church Fathers, saints, and theologians, as well as the
Magisterium. It goes without saying that a Catholic ought never simply to pluck
a single passage of the Bible out of context, so as to use it as a “proof-text”
to justify his particular claim.

The way some have attempted
to use the Bible in order to justify lying

Unfortunately,
in the on-line debate about lying, many persons regularly cited difficult
passages of Sacred Scripture in order to claim that lying is not always wrong.
These individuals did not consider the Patristic interpretations, nor the
reasoned considerations of later theologians from the scholastic and
counter-reformation periods. Rather, they simply isolated particular passages
and interpreted them according to the whims of their own minds.

Although
many saints and theologians have interpreted these passages in such a way as to
both respect the texts themselves and maintain the constant teaching of the
Scriptures and the Church that lying is always and everywhere wrong, many (in
an attempt to defend the activity of Live Action) have ignored the sound
doctrine of the Catholic Tradition and have substituted their own commentaries
for those of the Fathers. What is worse, these writers seem to refuse to enter
into serious discussion with any who would question their “obvious”
interpretations – To those who have attempted to recall the interpretations of
the Church Fathers and Doctors, these persons will only respond, “You’ve gotta
be kiddin’ me!” And with that, they dismiss the riches of Catholic Biblical
exegesis.

What the Scriptures say
about lying

In
later articles, we will consider the particular passages which have been most
commonly brought up in the recent debate about the ethics of lying. For now, it
will be enough to point to the general teaching of the Scriptures – recognizing
that no passage of the Bible can be read outside of the unity of the Biblical Canon.

Below,
we have included a short list of Biblical verses on lying. This list is by no
means exhaustive, but will suffice to give a general sense of the Scriptural
tradition. It is worth noting that, especially in Psalms and Proverbs, the
wicked and sinful man is typified as a liar (even more than as a murderer).
Moreover, Satan himself, though called a murderer
from the beginning, is immediately thereafter identified as a liar, and the father thereof. (John
8:44)

Colossians 3:9 Lie
not one to another, seeing that
ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Proverbs 6:16-19
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea,
seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that
deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and
he that soweth discord among brethren.

Lying is an abomination to God.

Proverbs 12:22 Lying
lips are abomination to the LORD:
but they that deal truly are his delight.

And a hindrance to prayer.

Isaiah 59:2-3 But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue
hath muttered perverseness.

The devil is the father of lies.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a
liar, and the father of it.

1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And
he said, I will go forth, and I will be
a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt
persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie
to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

The saints do not lie

Psalms 119:163 I
hate and abhor lying: but thy law
do I love.

Proverbs 13:5 A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

Psalms 101:7 He
that worketh deceit shall not
dwell within my house: he that telleth
lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity,
nor speak lies; neither shall a
deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and
none shall make them afraid.

Psalms 119:29 Remove
from me the way of lying: and
grant me thy law graciously.

Hosea 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with
God, and is faithful with the saints.

Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they
go astray as soon as they be born, speaking
lies.

Psalms 52:3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak
righteousness.

Psalms 62:4 They only consult to cast him down from his
excellency: they delight in lies:
they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

Jeremiah 9:3 And they
bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for
the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not
me, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:5 And they
will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to
commit iniquity.

Liars are excluded from heaven.

Revelation 21:27
And there shall in no wise enter into it
any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are
written in the Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 22:15
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Examples of liars:

The devil,

Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die:

Cain,

Genesis 4:9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel
thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

Sarah,

Genesis 18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not;
for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Joseph's brethren,

Genesis 37:31-32
And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a
kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; And they sent the coat of
many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we
found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

Gibeonites,

Joshua 9:9-13 And they said unto him, From a very far
country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we
have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, And all that he did
to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon,
and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our elders and all
the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for
the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants:
therefore now make ye a league with us. This our bread we took hot for our
provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now,
behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy: And these bottles of wine, which we
filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our
shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. ...

Prophet of Bethel,

1 Kings 13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as
thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him
back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he
lied unto him.

Job's friends,

Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all
physicians of no value.

Peter,

Matthew 26:72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not
know the man.

Ananias,

Acts 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down,
and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

10
comments:

I'm so glad you are doing this. I had the idea to do this too, except I've been ill lately. Will keep an eye on future articles.

Would you consider doing a series on the meaning of the phrase "lying by its nature is to be condemned"? People don't understand what this "nature" is, and how it excludes any possible exceptions. People don't understand the meaning of the phrase "intrinsically disordered".

Suzanne,I will try to put together a short article on the nature of lying (sometime in the next week) -- specifically we will need to clarify what the Catechism means when referring to the "intention to deceive" (which seems to say that the evil of lying is in the intention) and then clarifying this by saying that lying is wrong by its nature (and not merely by the intention)...this very point has led to much confusion as many (rather foolishly) have stated that a lie is not a lie if it is told with the intention of leading someone to a moral conversion...

Thank you for this post. I agree with your arguments however, there seems to be a brushing over of what Pope Pius did during WWII and many countless others. Lying is a sin but in the context of saving one's life while not endangering the recipient of the lie has to be taken into consideration. In addition, to the nature of the lie. Habitual lying and lying for you own gain is different from lying to save another's life.

@David, Agreed, a lie which is told for personal gain is usually either a very serious venial sin or a mortal sin.However, when a person lies in order to save another (especially if that lie does no further direct harm to anyone), that lie is often probably only a venial sin.

What troubles me is when some claim that, because a lie is told with a good intention, it is no longer really a lie at all, or at least is not wrong...this is consequentialism on parade.

I've just read Dei Verbum after your mentioning it in this article. Much of what is read about the guarantee of receiving the Truth of Revelation seems to come from Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine, about which I'm giving a talk this Saturday - spare prayers would be appreciated!

On a different note, I noticed that throughout DV 'sacred tradition' is lower-cased, while 'Sacred Scripture' is capitalised. Is this the way it's supposed to be written? I always capitalise 'Sacred Tradition'.

The consideration of the "cases" of Abraham, Jacob, the midwives, Rahab, and Judith can be found in my latest post: http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2011/03/abraham-jacob-rahab-and-judith-biblical.html